Department for Transport

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Road Traffic Offences

lord bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 24 March (HL6007), how many penalties for breaches of the EU drivers' hours regulations involving lorry drivers sleeping in their cabs during breaks they estimate will be (1) issued, and (2) paid annually; and where the call for stakeholder views is published.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: It is not possible to accurately estimate the number of penalties that would be issued if the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) started issuing penalties to drivers unlawfully taking their regular 45 hour weekly rest in their vehicle. However, the vast majority of penalties issued by the DVSA are paid (98.7% for April 2016 to March 2017). The issue was raised at the Road Haulage Forum (comprising of members representing both trade associations and trade unions in the road freight industry). Following that meeting on 21st February the members were asked to provide their views in writing. These responses are being considered and will inform the government's policy on how to enforce in this area.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Retail Trade: Prices

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which dynamic pricing is operated within the UK retail sector.

lord prior of brampton: The UK Retail Sector is fiercely competitive – competition underpins consumer confidence, creates wider choice, increases quality and ensures transparency. The Government believes consumers are best served by the operation of open competition between companies and, as part of this, businesses will set prices according to their assessment of the prevailing market conditions.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Capital Investment

lord beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they continue to hold the view, as expressed to the House of Commons Justice Committee inquiry, Prisons: planning and policies, 9th report of 2014–15 (HC309), by the then Minister for Prisons, that a higher degree of capital investment is possible in the private sector than in the public sector; and if so, what the basis is for this assertion.

lord keen of elie: Since the publication of the “Prisons: planning and policies” report, the government has announced that we will invest £1.3bn to build up to 10,000 modern prison places. We cannot expect to make any significant impact in safety and reform without upfront investment. We have a robust mechanism for making capital expenditure decisions which monitors investment against outcomes and benefits - our work in digitising prisons is subject to this process alongside all of our other work in the Prison Safety and Reform programme.

Prisons: Overcrowding

lord beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they continue to share the view of the then Secretary of State, as cited in the House of Commons Justice Committee report, Prisons: planning and policies, 9th report of 2014–15 (HC309), that overcrowding leading to prisoners sharing cells is not a major problem; and if not, by what date they anticipate that prisoners will not be required to share cells.

lord keen of elie: We will build up to 10,000 modern prison places which will replace places in ageing and ineffective prisons reducing the current levels of crowding as we will be providing buildings fit for today’s demands and able to support effective rehabilitation. This new accommodation is designed to have predominantly single cells.

Department for Work and Pensions

National Insurance Credits

baroness drake: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the number of mothers claiming their full entitlement to NI credits towards their state pension.

lord henley: Parents who are not working can safeguard their State Pension by claiming Child Benefit. National insurance credits are automatically awarded to people claiming Child Benefit for a child under age 12.Since 2013, new parents and carers with household income above £50,000 are liable to pay a High Income Child Benefit Charge. Individuals can choose to receive Child Benefit and pay the charge or not receive Child Benefit and not pay the charge, and will receive credits under either option.Information on what parents should do to protect their State Pension is included in the Bounty packs available to new parents and on GOV.UK.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Apprentices

baroness byford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 7 March (HL Deb, col 1246), whether the trebling of agricultural apprenticeships from 6,000 to 18,000 is a target for (1) the whole period to 2020, or (2) each year until and including 2020.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government’s commitment is to treble the number of apprenticeships in food, farming and agri-tech. This means increasing the number of annual starts to 18,000 by 2020. The number of starts in the most recent full year for which statistics are available (2015 -2016) was 7,160.

Glyphosate

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risks to British farming of the withdrawal of glyphosate.

lord gardiner of kimble: Glyphosate is important to British farming, as well as to other sectors such as transport infrastructure. In the farming context, alternative means of weed control are limited in a number of situations. Even where there are alternatives, these are likely to require other changes in practices and to carry significant costs. There would be real difficulties if glyphosate were to be withdrawn. However, the Government does not believe that this should happen. Effective pesticides should be authorised where the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. In the case of glyphosate, UK and EU experts have identified no safety concerns arising from its continuing use. The EU is due to decide later this year whether or not to continue to allow the use of glyphosate.

Dairy Farming: Job Creation

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the dairy industry's labour requirements, and of the opportunities for job creation in that sector.

lord gardiner of kimble: The UK dairy sector provides an array of jobs to an 80,000 strong workforce across the country, including farming, manufacturing, research and marketing.The Government and the wider agri-food industry work closely together to develop a strong talent pipeline, including through planned reforms to post-16 technical and vocational education. Skills are a key pillar of the Industrial Strategy and an important strand of the work on future farming productivity.

Agriculture

baroness parminter: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to consult the public on future policy and support for farming once the UK leaves the EU, in advance of any decisions being taken or legislation being tabled; and if so, how views will be sought.

baroness parminter: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to consult stakeholders, including the National Farmers' Union and the Food and Drink Industries Group, on future policy and support for farming once the UK leaves the EU, in advance of any decisions being taken or legislation being tabled; and how those views will be sought.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Secretary of State set out five priority themes for engagement in her speech to the 2017 NFU Conference on 21 February: global demand, productivity, sustainability, resilience and consumer trust.We will be working closely with the industry and the public on what is needed to drive agricultural and environmental policies forward once we leave the EU. Over the next few months we will be engaging with stakeholders so that Ministers and officials will be able to hear industry and the public’s views first hand.We have a once in a generation opportunity to transform our food and farming policies and improve our environment and it is vital we are all part of this process.

Environment Protection

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that appropriate enforcement mechanisms will be in position post-Brexit in place of those currently exercised by the European Commission and European Court of Justice, in relation to the environment.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government is committed to being the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it. The UK has always had a strong legal framework for environmental protections which predates our membership of the EU and oversight by its institutions. Our legislative framework already includes provisions for regulators to enforce existing environmental laws. Parliament is responsible for holding the Government to account, and Parliament is ultimately accountable to the electorate. This will not change with our departure from the EU. If there is an allegation that the Government has acted unlawfully, or has not complied with due process, interested parties may also bring legal action against the Government, in form of a claim for judicial review through the courts..

Agriculture and Environment Protection

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the announcement by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 4 January, what progress they have made on finalising the two green papers on (1) the future of food and farming, and (2) the environment; and when they plan to publish them.

lord gardiner of kimble: We are committed to publish both a 25 year environment plan and food and farming plan to support our twin ambitions of being the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than that in which we found it, and to become a world leading food, farming and fishing nation: to grow more, sell more and export more British food.We are stepping up our engagement with a wide range of stakeholders to inform development of the full plans, which we are committed to publishing during this Parliament.

Urban Areas: Pests

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last reviewed (1) the proliferation of pests in urban areas, and (2) the ability of local authorities to deal with those pests.

lord gardiner of kimble: The proliferation of pests in urban areas has not been reviewed by central Government, however there is a range of legislation in place to support local authorities in controlling urban pests.Pest control is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs. Where this is the local authority, they have the same powers to control pests as any other owner or occupier.There is a range of legislation in place to support local authorities in managing rodent infestation and statutory nuisances, such as litter and refuse, where these are attracting pests.The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 obliges local authorities to ensure that their districts are kept, as far as is practicable, free of rats and mice.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Housing: Finance

lord beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many local authorities they estimate will reduce their Housing Related Support programme budgets in 2017–18 by (1) 30 to 40 per cent, and (2) 50 to 100 per cent.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Government has not made an estimate but expects local authorities to take on the challenge of making public expenditure savings in order to tackle the deficit while continuing to provide excellent public services to local communities. This includes housing-related support services to the most vulnerable in society. We have already taken several steps during this Parliament to help secure a strong and sustainable adult social care system. The recent Budget contained £2 billion of new funding to support adult social care in the short term. Taken all together, councils have access to £9.25 billion more dedicated funding for adult social care over the next three years, as a result of the measures introduced by the Government since 2015.Supported housing supports hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the country and the Government is committed to protecting this vital provision, and to ensuring it provides value for money as well as individual quality outcomes for residents. As announced by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 15 September 2016 (attached), we will be introducing a new reformed funding model from April 2019 to cover rent and service charges for supported housing, see:http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-09-15/HCWS154/.Following recent consultation, we will bring forward more detail in a Green paper to be published later in this year. 



Housing Benefit (HCWS154)
(PDF Document, 375.79 KB)

Department for Exiting the European Union

Brexit

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of a second Scottish independence referendum on Brexit negotiations and planning.

lord bridges of headley: As the Prime Minister has said, now is not the time to be talking about a second independence referendum. It would be unfair to the people of Scotland to ask them to make a crucial decision without knowing what our future partnership with the EU will be.The UK needs to work together, putting all our energies into securing a deal that works for the entire United Kingdom and the right deal for Scotland in our negotiations with the European Union.

UK Trade with EU

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that higher tariffs are not imposed on the UK in response to leaving the single market.

lord bridges of headley: We will pursue a bold and ambitious free trade agreement with the European Union that allows for the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU’s member states; that gives British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets; and that lets European businesses do the same in Britain. It is in the mutual interest of the UK and the EU to maintain the freest trade possible.

Business: Regulation

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures have been put in place to ensure that the Brexit negotiations do not impose undue bureaucratic burdens on UK businesses.

lord bridges of headley: The Government’s first objective as we negotiate a new deep and special partnership with the European Union is to provide business, the public sector, and everybody in our country with as much certainty as possible.Our decision to convert the ‘acquis’ – the body of European legislation – into UK law at the moment we repeal the European Communities Act is an essential part of this plan. The same rules and laws will apply on the day after exit as on the day before. It will then be for democratically elected representatives in the UK to decide on any changes to that law, after full scrutiny and proper debate.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements: South Africa

lord steel of aikwood: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for ministerial or other visits to South Africa to establish trade deals after Brexit.

lord price: Secretary of State Fox and Lord Price have both met with Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry in South Africa, and DIT Ministers are keen to visit South Africa in the near future. We are committed to strengthening ties as the UK prepares to leave the European Union and to work together to identify trade and investment opportunities that will benefit not only the UK and South Africa, but across the wider southern Africa and Africa region.

Commonwealth: Overseas Trade

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for the UK to re-connect with the economies of Commonwealth countries.

lord price: The UK has maintained, and continues to build, close economic links with all Commonwealth partners. The Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting which I co-chaired last month produced a number of action points to encourage trade between all member countries, these points include support SMEs, infrastructure development and access to finance, amongst other measures. We are developing this work in advance of the Commonwealth Summit in 2018 where trade will be an important part of the agenda.

Ministers: Correspondence

lord rooker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 28 March (HL6075), when Baroness Mobarik expects to follow up her commitment made in her answer on 24 January (HL Deb, col 551) to provide written information on the percentage of companies in the UK that the Department for International Trade has been dealing with which are owned outside the UK.

lord price: The Department for International Trade supports companies exporting products from the UK. The ownership structure of those companies is not recorded.